The Great Schools in Wake Coalition is accusing the Wake County school board majority of putting "special interest politics ahead of the values of the community" with the votes taken at last week's meeting.
In a press release today, GSIW complains about the 5-4 votes on hiring Heidrick & Struggles, eliminating the requirement that the superintendent be an educator and dropping out of the state and national school boards associations.
Yevonne Brannon, GSIW chairwoman, said the board actions taken last week "demonstrates reckless disregard for the community and for our family values.”
“The board majority is operating in pennywise and pound foolish fashion—hiring the most expensive, most inexperienced firm to conduct a search for our next superintendent, yet disassociating our community from local and national professional education organizations, which cost relatively little to join, and yield so much benefit.” Brannon said in the press release, “The cost of their ongoing spending spree is in the tens of millions of dollars. But the damage they are doing to the quality of our schools is incalculable.”
The press release also includes criticism from Charlotte Turpin, retired Wake County educator, past president of the Wake NC Association of Educators and current President of the Harriet B. Webster Task Force for Student Success. Turpin accuses the board majority of having a "political agenda" for wanting to consider non-educators to be superintendent.
“Our great school system must be led by an experienced educator who understands the challenges of the classroom, the needs of all pupils, and the strengths upon which we must build in Wake County, if we are to advance student achievement to the next level," Turpin said. "The thought of hiring a businessperson as our next superintendent is appalling. It is no more appropriate than having a carpenter perform heart surgery, just because he has tools to measure and cut.”
The GSIW also complains about the board's decision to purchase the land in Rolesville for the new high school. Brannon points to how much further away Rolesvile High school would be to Wakefield High than the Forest Ridge site.
“The board majority rewrites policy to favor ‘proximity’ in student assignment, yet they move forward to site a new high school in a remote area of the county, which will force students to be bused great distances—it is twelve miles away from Wakefield High School, which has 3,000 in space designed for 1,800.” Brannon said, “It is obvious that the wellbeing of children affected by these decisions is not being considered.”
Brannon's arguments echo many of those voiced by Commissioner Stan Norwalk for opposing the Rolesville site. That's not surprising considering that GSIW has on its web site a talking points sheet on the issue put together by Norwalk.
Comments
I don't buy this Wakefield
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 21:59 — jenmanI don't buy this Wakefield argument of Stan's. There are kids closer to Heritage who are being bused to Wakefield. Yes, Wakefield is crowded but he's ignoring the fact that kids are getting bused there from farther away. None of the people on the west side of Capital should be sent away farther to Rolesville HS. Heck, we most likely won't be sent to Heritage which is closer than Rolesville.
As usual, Norwalk is blowing a lot of smoke.
Brannon's Raleigh-centric vision obscures the view
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 21:47 — Apexter"yet they move forward to site a new high school in a remote area of the county, which will force students to be bused great distances—it is twelve miles away from Wakefield High School, which has 3,000 in space designed for 1,800.”
As Bob and others have pointed out, the distance between the H-6 site and Wakefield HS is irrelevant.
Go the the WCPSS site and look at the high school assignment areas for next year. (Yes, you'll probably have to pull them up one by one.)
The assignment committee will be making the recommendations for the assignment area for the new H-6/Rolesville High School. Looking at current assignment areas, it seems very likely that a large portion of the assignment area will come from Wake Forest Rolesville High School's assignment area. By being located further to the east, it will also make it feasible for the school to pull in a adjacent nodes from the northern end of East Wake and Knightdale's assignment area as well. By freeing up some space in these schools, students can be reassigned from Wakefield or other Raleigh schools to a different school that is closer to them --- say, Heritage or WFR. It would not make sense to leapfrog over Heritage High School to reassign Wakefield students to H-6. I feel optimistic that the assignment committee is smart enough and family friendly enough to consider the upcoming school opening as it makes its recommendations for high school assignments in that area of the county.
Yes, Ms. Brannon, there are a lot of families that live in unincorporated areas of the county. We don't have to plan to bus all of them into Raleigh.
So according the GSIW, the
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 14:52 — woodstockSo according the GSIW, the BoE is "disregarding community and family values" by increasing fairness in assignments, offering choice and ending forced busing.
Just how desperate is GSIW and the Billy Barbers of the world getting? They are grasping at straws. What exactly is their motive?
Distance to Wakefield?
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 14:08 — Bob_SconceThat just doesn't make any sense. Why not look at the distance to, say, Middle Creek? Heritage HS is between Wakefield and Forest Ridge (either the old or new locations) and, in fact, is taking a bunch of the load off Wakefield this coming year. When H6 opens, I would expect it to take from Heritage and Knightdale and for a bunch of Wakefield students to go to Heritage.
Heck, the new location is only 8 minutes away from the old one. All this "Oh it's just too far" stuff doesn't add up.
And, I'll note that the country's largest school system -- New York City -- is headed up by a man with no prior experience in education, Joel Klein.
New York City -- is headed up by a man with no prior experience
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 16:29 — HereWeGoMr. Klein has had a long-standing interest in educational issues. He studied at New York University’s School of Education and later taught math to sixth-graders at a public school in Queens. Mr. Klein has served as a visiting and adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
He also got rid of the School Board.
So...
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 17:18 — Bob_SconceYeah, during leave of absense while he was in law school . He wouldn't meet the old WCPSS requirements -- hadn't taught in 10 years, doesn't have a degree in education.
Actually, it was Bloomburg who got rid of the NYCS school board. Klein was their replacement.
EXACTLY!
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 15:00 — ego7601You are right on target, Bob. Most people are forgetting that Heritage is right in the middle of Wakefield and Rolesville. And I would just like to add one little comment: This is a COUNTY system, not just Raleigh. WCPSS should provide schools in the communities that make up the county. Knightdale, Wendell, Wake Forest, Holly Springs, Fuquay, Cary, Apex, Garner and Raleigh all have high schools. Why not Rolesville? Because it is "too small?"
EXACTLY!
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 15:10 — danofncBecause it is too small.
Go look at the assignment area for HSHS. The school isn't centrally located, but it is located closer to where the greatest population concentration exists.
RHS will be just the opposite.
You have no idea, Dan
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 16:16 — ego7601Yes, the current assignment area is where the greatest population CURRENTLY exists. How's about looking 20 years in the future? Rolesville's growth over the last 20 years is at about 250%. If the trend stays similar, that will be another 7500 people in the area in the next 20 years. When you build a school, you have to look at future projections. Some people don't want to be packed in like sardines in Raleigh, so they look to go to the outskirts, like I did. When I moved out to that area 10 years ago, most of it was still farmland and tress. Fast forward and there are subdivisions galore and retail areas on every corner. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago when going past Spring Forest Rd on 401 meant you were out in the sticks it wasn't a good idea, but now that the area is growing up (and fast) it makes perfect sense to build in Rolesville.
Wakefield students can stay at Wakefield, go to Heritage or (GASP!) drive to WF-R and still be closer than attending Rolesville. So its kind of a moot point.
You're using fuzzy math.
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 16:32 — danofncYou're using fuzzy math. While it may be possible for Rolesville to have over 7500 people in 20 years, using the 250% growth over the last 20 years isn't proof of that possibility.
There are about 3000 people there now. The population could double, and Rolesville still isn't all that big. Especially if you look at how much other areas have grown in that same 20 year span. Fuquay was around 8000 in 2000, and was estimated at almost 14,000 in 2006 (wikipedia). According to city-data, Fuquay's population was estimated at 17,000 in 2008. That means that Fuquay grew three Rolesvilles in 8 years.
Holly Springs went from 9000 people in 2000 to over 20,000 in 2008. That's almost 4 Rolesvilles.
That's how you get a high school built under normal circumstances.
Let's look at K-dale
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 21:32 — ego7601In 2000 there were 5600 people in Knightdale. Apparently there were enough people there to warrant a HS. The WCPSS bought the land for the Knightdale HS and Forestville Rd elementary school in 2001 (same tract of land, like what is proposed in Rolesville). Any way you look at this, there are population booms in the suburbs. Is there some "magical number" that a town needs in order to warrant a school? Apparently in your mind, there is and Rolesville doesn't have it yet.
That 3000 number are the people that live within town limits. Raleigh keeps annexing land and neighborhoods out 401 way, so those people, although right outside Rolesville town limits are within Raleigh's numbers. Not to mention those that live out in the county towards Louisburg, Zebulon, and Youngsville (and are in Wake County limits).
Again, these arguments are a moot point. I don't think the school board is going to go back to the Forest Ridge site and if the county commissioners say no to this land purchase in Rolesville, I believe the school board will go forward with another site and this saga will drag on so long, a school won't get built until 2015 at the earliest.
I guess you and I can agree to disagree that Rolesville warrants a HS.
I am certain that the site
Tue, 06/22/2010 - 08:20 — danofncI am certain that the site isn't changing, no matter how illogical.
In 08-09, there were 101 kids attending Knightdale HS who lived more than 6 radial miles away from the school. There are quite a few nodes in and around Rolesville that attend KHS, and that's bound to be where some of those kids live. There are also some southern nodes near Hwy 70 that attend, so we can't give all those kids to RHS.
Plus, I'm sure that Heritage HS was built with the intention that most Rolesville students north of 401 would go there
The first distance analysis will tell whether or not the school should have been built where it is going to be built. Based on a quick check, I think every non-magnet, non-East Wake, HS has at least 900 kids assigned inside of 4 radial miles from the school in 08-09. If this location meets that standard, then I'll stop talking about it.
I'm not sure it will, though, because the old site is probably really close to that barrier, and a lot of the people that this school will need live south of that site.
Anyone know the population
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 20:23 — jeffrey1Anyone know the population of Fuquay when FV high school was built?
...
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 21:37 — ego7601According to Fuquay's website, their population in 1970 was 3576. The current FVHS opened in 1975, so I would guess around 4000. By the year 2000, the population had grown to 7900.
Conclusion
Tue, 06/22/2010 - 00:09 — jeffrey1So then we can conclude that the board is using the same logic in Rolesville that it used in Fuquay and Knightdale, i.e. building a high school in a relatively small town in advance of growth.
Except that Fuquay High was
Tue, 06/22/2010 - 07:01 — magnetParentExcept that Fuquay High was built in 1975 and had 2 additions, one in 1989 and another in 1994. Its current capacity is 1639. I imagine its capacity in 1975 was much smaller. I think the only schools in that area were (maybe?) Apex HS and Garner HS. And the Wake County/Raleigh schools merger occurred in 1976. But other than that, its the same thing.
OK, so what was the
Wed, 06/23/2010 - 22:32 — jeffrey1OK, so what was the population of FV in 1989 and 1994?
Wow ... that was good
Tue, 06/22/2010 - 07:57 — user12345Wow ... that was good background
You know manufacturers shave
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 14:37 — danofncYou know manufacturers shave an ounce off of packaging costs and save millions of dollars? Think about your "it's just 8 minutes" in those terms.
For the vast majority of kids who will attend Rolesville High School, their rides are longer than they would have been at Forest Ridge. If most of the kids assigned to the school are living near the Forest Ridge site or on the other side of it from RHS, then those 8 minutes will mean an extra 16 minutes a day on the bus for a lot of kids. High schools have a lot of buses.
Knightdale already has East Wake and Knightdale high schools, so a lot of these kids are likely coming from the "fringe" areas that include Louisburg Road, Forestville Road, Perry Creek, etc. There are a LOT of houses in that area, and those houses are minutes from the old site. They are much farther from the Rolesville site. Every mile that those buses go past the old site is money being wasted, for as long as the buses roll up 401 to that school.
Rolesville is at the edge of the county, and in 2008 its population was estimated at about 3000. That's not far from how many kids are expected to attend a high school in Wake County.
It seems strange that the "proximity" school board moved a school site farther out into the boonies, away from the kids they will ultimately send there.
I don't think the new
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 14:51 — user12345I don't think the new location was the best place presently on the edge of the county but Eagles is hoping one day Rolesville will be the new Cary and he will have a HS ready when that day comes.
Planning ahead. What a
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 15:14 — woodstockPlanning ahead. What a concept.
In Raleigh, the Brier Creek area used to be vacant land not so long ago. Now it is one of the fastest growing urban centers in the area according to many, including the N&O, and there is no middle or high school to be found... and there will never be now because what little land is left is too expensive.
That kind of What if
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 15:51 — user12345That kind of What if planning is great if you can afford it ... by buying up land every where we can be ready for any growth that might occur. The closer we put schools to the edge of the country the more problematic they are to fill. On Brier Creek .. we should just trade them to Durham to take care of like the arrangement we have above Falls Lake.
LOL None of that makes a bit
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 20:38 — woodstockLOL None of that makes a bit of sense.
Interesting...
Mon, 06/21/2010 - 14:33 — duvalJoel Klein.
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8654